The single stroke roll is one of if not the most important rudiment for drummers. From grooves to fills to solos, the single-stroke roll is used everywhere, which is why it is so important to develop. The goal of this article is to teach you how to develop your single stroke roll by providing you with exercises and explaining why they work, stay tuned!
- The first way to develop your single stroke is by playing single strokes with added accents in both hands. it might seem that just playing singles for hours would be most effective, but more effective and less boring is adding accents.
Adding accents is more effective because it trains your hands to move quickly between the accented note and the unaccented note, which is incredibly important. After all, the distinction between the accents to the other notes is what makes them accents. the easiest way to perform this exercise is to play 16th notes and move the accent one 16th note every four bars.
2. The second way to develop your singles stroke is by working on every hand independently. Working on each hand separately ensures that one hand doesn’t improve faster than the other and helps balance the hands in areas where they differ.
The way I would work on each and independently would be to play 16th note singles in every hand (at a speed you’re comfortable at) while accenting the first 16th note and moving it one 16th note every four bars. (just like the two handed exercise but with one hand) you will probably notice that your hand perform differently and you should work them separately to narrow the gap between them.
3. The third way to develop your single stroke is combining the feet with the hands, playing singles with the right hand and the right foot at speed is essential for many jazz phrases by iconic drummers such as Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, and Tony Williams.
Being able to play clean, consistent single strokes and other rudiments between the hands and the feet will also improve your hand-to-hand coordination and speed.
DISCLAIMER! – Your practice on the drum pad won’t translate well to the snare drum! the pad is your blackboard, where you learn new rudiments, slow things down, and play quietly before you move to the snare, the snare drum is much more difficult to play because of how sensitive its surface is and how loud it is, you should practice playing everything you know on the pad also on the snare drum.
An important part of hand speed is also being able to move them quickly around the kit. It doesn’t matter if you’re fast on the pad or the snare drum alone if the moment you start moving the single around they fall apart. this skill is immensely important, so many drum fills and solos are based on moving the single stroke roll around the kit, listen to Max Roach on ‘Savoy’ in the album – ‘Brown and Roach incorporated’. *While practicing single around the kit, make sure to always hit the drum in the middle of the drum head, that’s where you get the best, most consistent sound.
To sum up, the single stroke roll is a very important tool in the drummers’ arsenal, I am 100% sure that if you try my ways to improve your single stroke roll stated above you will see improvement within a few weeks of work. id love to hear your feedback, feel free to write me at – izzy@visomusic.com